THE CLAIMS OF THE EARLY SETTLERS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4371, 24 March 1875, Page 3

THE CLAIMS OF THE EARLY SETTLERS.

Sni, —The anniversary of the foundation of the colony (January 22, 1840), was celebrated in the usual way by a regatta, sports, &c.. and In the evening by a banquet, when I, as one of the vice-chairmen, ventured to assert the claims of the practical founders of the colony, by stating *' that the mere fact of annually sounding their praises was not enough, and he (Mr. Wallace) would like to see their services as the practical founders of the' colony recognised. The volunteers had their scrip awarded to them, the naval and military settlers had their grants of land; but what he would like to see was that the earlv settlers should have their grants of land, and that the Legislature of the colony should be asked to consider this important subject." I will endeavor as briefly as possible to bring before the public and the colony the claims of the pioneers ; and in order to do so must go back to th; " early days." The New Zealand Company were the first systematic colonisers of New Zealand, Mr. Gibbon Wakefield being the main-spring. _ - ' "The preliminary expedition of the New Zealand Land Company reached Cook Strait on the J7th of August. 1830. At the time of Colonel Wakefield's arrival the British settlers in New Zealand scarcely amounted t0..1000 in nil,. of whom about 500 were r settled In the Northern Peninsula, and about as many in Cook Strait, at Banka* Peninsula, .or/further south. The Church of England missionaries' had ia settlement at the Bay' of Islands,' and a short wayinland. and in the Valley of the Thames. The Wesleyan missionaries had stations on the Hokiaoga and Kafpara. Whalers and settlers had* fotmdfcd the irregular settlements in the central and southern parts. In addition to those .who might be reckoned settlers of some standing, a growing belief that the British’Government contemplated a settlement In New Zealand had attracted a number of land speculators from Sydney." . - . . ** Colonel Wakefield was induced to select Cook Strait as the scene of the ,s* company’s operations." . The following were the first ten vessels, sent out by the New Zealand Company in 1839, and which arrived at Port Nicholson, the first and principal settlement of the New Zealand Company:—